Members of SWAAG have been engaged in conducting non-invasive geophysical surveys of sites of archaeological interest since 2012, latterly using the group’s own equipment.
The group’s experience of geophysical surveys began in 2011 by commissioning expertise from the Archaeological Services Department of Durham University (ASDU), at the Hagg Farm site and at Maiden Castle. In the following year, ASDU was commissioned by SWAAG to undertake geophysical surveys at Cogden Hall and the Grinton Mounds, while at the same time engaging SWAAG members in the process and training them in use of the equipment.
In 2014, at the time of the Swaledale Big Dig, it was decided to use a portion of the money granted to SWAAG by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to purchase the group’s own geophysics equipment, which could be used to train more members and to be readily accessible for future investigations.
The investment has proved extremely beneficial in advancing the group’s capabilities to investigate sites, to understand their potential so that any subsequent excavation could be better-targeted, and, where excavation was not permissible or not desirable, to learn about landscapes without invasion. It has also enabled SWAAG to provide geophysical survey services to other organisations.
Reports on geophysical surveys conducted at SWAAG sites can be found in this website on pages about all aspects of the work undertaken at those individual sites. Below are listed, in reverse chronological order, brief descriptions and links to full reports on four surveys so far conducted by SWAAG surveyors at the request of other organisations.
2017 – Bainbridge Village Green and Quaker Field – Three sites in Bainbridge as part of the “We Dig Community” project managed by Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority on behalf of the Yorkshire Dales Young Archaeologists Club.
2016 – Long Preston, near Settle – Two sites at the request of the Long Preston Heritage Group as part of their “Big Dig” of multiple test pits, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
2015 – Castle Hills and airfield, Catterick – Two sites on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Catterick Garrison, in preparation for a programme involving heritage and archaeological excavation, as part of a project to enhance the physical and social capabilities of injured military personnel.
2014 – Ellerton Priory – Priory land on behalf of Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority prior to planting replacement roadside parkland trees. The first phase of this survey was also reported in the SWAAG database, Geophysical Category PDF, scroll to record no. 781.
